Led by Skoda, the India 2.0 project aims at strengthening the parent Volkswagen Group's presence in India with tailor-made products by the two auto makers through the MQB A0 IN platform which is specially developed for India.

The company, a subsidiary of South Korean auto major Kia Motors, is in the final stages of commissioning the manufacturing facility with an annual installed production capacity of over 3 lakh vehicles.

Under pressure to avert bans of diesel vehicles in key cities, carmakers have started offering trade-in incentives to encourage customers to scrap older diesel vehicles for more modern cleaner vehicles.

The country moved up two places from 12th place at the end of 2016. Toyota outstripped growth in the Indian passenger vehicle market last year, registering a 9% jump with sales of 151,000 passenger vehicles, compared with the industry average of 5.5%.

Tesla will recall 14,123 cars in China over airbags that contained parts made by now-defunct Japanese manufacturer Takata. Tesla, which recently broke ground on a factory outside Shanghai, has said the move is part of an industry-wide global recall of parts made by Takata, which went bust in 2017 after its airbags were blamed for a number of deaths.